FIVE MINUTE MAJOR

By Derek Harper

It’s a new week in major junior hockey and we’re getting deeper into each of the three conference championship rounds in each of the three major junior leagues under the CHL umbrella. In the WHL, both the Portland Winterhawks and Moose Jaw Warriors were up two games to one going into their respective game fours Wednesday night. Portland was leading the Prince George Cougars and Moose Jaw was leading the Saskatoon Blades.

In the OHL, the Oshawa Generals were up three games to none on the North Bay Battalion while the London Knights were up two games to one on this year’s Memorial Cup host, the Saginaw Spirit. Both series were set to have their game fours Wednesday night.

In the QMJHL, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar were up three games to one on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles while the Drummondville Voltigeurs were up three games to none on the Victoriaville Tigres. Drummondville and Victoriaville were set to do battle in game four Wednesday night with Drummondville looking to sweep. Baie-Comeau and Cape Breton were set to battle in game five of their series Thursday night.

With the leads that each team have in their respective series in each of the three leagues and the way that the teams have been playing, each championship series in each of the three leagues will be thrillers.

Meanwhile in the WHL, Prince George General Manager and Head Coach Mark Lamb was named the WHL Executive of the Year. Other nominees included Portland’s Vice President, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston, Swift Current’s Chad Leslie and Moose Jaw’s Jason Ripplinger. Lamb guided his club to its second B.C. Division title and team-best record of 49-15-1-3 since moving to Prince George ahead of the 1994-95 season.

“I’m proud to receive the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy,” Lamb said. “There’s a lot of people that put in a lot of hard work to get this. When I look at all our scouts, led by Bob Simmonds, finding the players to put into our lineup.  It’s been a few years of building this so the acknowledgement that I’m getting, I just want to pass it on to the scouts.

You don’t win this without good players. You don’t win this without good staff, and I really want to throw a shout-out to our ownership group who has went through some really lean years here and they never wavered once.”

Lamb also received the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL Coach of the Year. With the awards Lamb received and the nominations Johnston, Leslie and Ripplinger received, when you put together a solid roster of talented young players and see sustained success, you’re typically recognized for that hard work.

But the work’s not done for three of the four gentlemen as Johnston, Ripplinger and Lamb are still deep in the thick of their respective conference championship playoff series. While one of Johnston or Lamb won’t see the WHL Championship Series, what they’ve accomplished this season is still very impressive and the recognition is well deserved.